Welcome to Creative Writing at UCC

This site is a road map to the world of creative writing at UCC. The School of English offers creative writing at undergraduate, Masters and PhD level. See what we do – check out our blog written by students, see the major names in literature who visit our campus, and explore the numerous courses we offer that redefine and broaden what it is to be a 21st century creative writer.

News and Events

We're in the process of advertising for a new writer-in-residence at UCC for the next academic year, starting in September. If you're a writer of note, and are interested in contributing to the lively creative writing scene in UCC and Cork generally, this is the job for you. You'll join a list of talented writers who've gone before you in recent times - short fiction writer Thomas Morris, novelist and playwright Conal Creedon, dramatist Michael West and poet Leanne O'Sullivan.

Please see below for details.

Applications are invited from writers of distinction for the above role, jointly funded by the Arts Council and University College Cork.

The Writer in Residence role is designed to provide a writer with a unique opportunity to develop his/her practice in a university environment while giving members of the university community the opportunity to engage with a practicing writer.

The appointment of Writer in Residence is for one year (September 1, 2018 - August 31, 2019) and the successful applicant will be paid a fee of €20,000.

S/he will offer four to six contact hours per week over two semesters, providing workshops and individual consultations. The Writer in Residence will enjoy uninterrupted time to advance his/her own work during the university vacations.

The successful applicant will be expected to deliver two public readings during the course of the residency, and to become involved in the fruitful connections forged between Creative Writing programmes in the School of English and the wider writing communities and literary festivals in Cork city.

We welcome applications from writers who work in genres including but not confined to: fiction; poetry; non-fiction; playwriting; digital storytelling.

Please apply by letter or email, outlining your suitability for the role, on or by April 27, 2018, including a CV with details of books published. Applicants must have a strong record of high quality publications.

Informal enquiries about the post may be made to Dr. Eibhear Walshe, School of English (e.walshe@ucc.ie)

“Writing Parents” is the fourth event in UCC’s School of English Reading series and will feature novelist and memoirist Carlo Gebler and biographer Sally Phipps in conversation with Dr Eibhear Walshe on the theme of literary off-spring.

Gebler’s parents are Edna O’Brien and the late Ernest Gebler; Sally Phipps is the daughter of novelist Molly Keane.

Carlo Gebler is the author of numerous novels, short fiction and two memoirs focussing on his father – Father and I, and The Projectionist. Sally Phipps’s biography of her mother is entitled Molly Keane: A Life.

The event takes place on Tuesday, March 20 @ 6.30pm in the Creative Zone, Boole Library, UCC . Admission is free and all are welcome.

Activist and author, Winnie M Li, is to read at UCC next week. Li is the author of the widely-acclaimed novel, Dark Chapter, http://www.winniemli.com/ - which stemmed from her experience of being assaulted and raped in a Belfast park in 2008. The novel won the 2017 Not the Booker Prize - https://www.theguardian.com/books/series/not-the-booker-prize - voted on by readers of The Guardian and is currently nominated for the prestigious Edgar Awards in the US.

Li co-founded the "Clear Lines" Festival - http://clearlines.org.uk/ - which aims to challenge the silence and stigma that surrounds sexual violence. She was also one of four sexual assault survivors profiled in the documentary Unbreakable: True Lives, which aired on TV 3 last September.

Associate Director of Creative Writing, Mary Morrissy, and UCC's current writer-in-residence, Thomas Morris, will be reading together at the double launch of issues 7 and 8 of The Lonely Crowd literary magazine - https://thelonelycrowd.org/ - in Dublin later this week. The event will also feature Cork writer Danielle McLaughlin. The reading will be at The Workman's Club, 10 Wellington Quay -https://theworkmansclub.com/ - on Thursday, March 8 @ 7pm. Admission is free.